Whatever you're doin, I WANT IN

thanks again everyone for making my birthday great! I will be sending out more pawmails tomorrow! I had such fun yesterday night! I had an awesome chicken dinner especially for me, and new toys! 2 of them I really love, these "Fuzz bugs" I got. They have catnip in them and have this shiny stuff on their tummies and they make this cool crackly sound when they slide across the floor. I was chasing them so fast my back legs flipped over my front when I stopped. :D So much fun.

And actually, I had a lot of fun tonight too. It was laundry day- YEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!! I love playing in sheets when mommy makes the bed! Raise your paw if you love to play in the sheets!

I am 2 years old today! Hurray Hurray! Let the "terrible 2's" begin! Just kidding. Mom hopes that "terrible 2" thing doesn't apply to cats.
Mom got up in the middle of the night and found me trying to rip open this ziplock bag containing Irish Soda bread, which I love. She put it away in the cabinet. She gives me some usually, but she will only give me the parts with no raisins. Raisins are bad for dogs, and she is not sure about cats, but she says better safe than sorry. Anyway it must have been that big full moon making me all crazy. I was up cleaning shelves and tables "knocking things over" very very early. And I pressed mom's face with my paw a HUNDRED times trying to wake her up. Her mouth especially. I was NOT trying to smother her, I just wanted to WAKE HER UP. She yelled at me when I started biting the pull tie to the blinds. She doesn't want me messing with that. But HEY! It's my birthday!
When she finally got up for real (she went back to sleep after giving me breakfast) Mom gave me special chicken and lamb jerky treats that she bought yesterday. Later on she is going to give me a special dinner. She took me out for a walk, but it was very short because I got freaked out. I am usually very brave, but several weird things happened. A police car came zooming by with its lights flashing. That wasn't that bad, but then I heard children yelling at the park, and I don't like loud children. It makes me growl. Then these 2 people thought I was cute, so they started coming over to me and talking. I just thought it was weird, and I started running really fast to get home. I leaped over branches and things and mom was running to keep up with me. Luckily we weren't far from home. I ran all the way back home right to our door with my tail all fat and puffed out. Mom is surprised how easily I knew the way back.
Anyway, I am happy to be home and I am looking forward to my dinner and birthday toys.
Thank you to everyone for my special messages and rosettes and gifts! I feel so loved and happy to have great friends! Mom is going to put up one of my baby pictures again. Hey, did I tell you that I am an uncle? My younger sister, from a different litter but same parents, had kittens! So did my mom, on the same day! So I am an uncle and a brother. You can see them on the special live kitten camkitten cam
They are SOOOOOO CUTE. You will love them. My mom is the pretty red aby, her name is Kalahari. My sister is the pretty ruddy aby (like me but smaller), and her name is Echo. They each had 2 ruddy kittens.
Thanks again everyone! meow to you later!

Yesterday morning I really wanted to go for a walk. I could feel that warm spring air! Unfortunately, mom had to go to work, so we couldn't go. Today, mom took the day off and we went out. Unfortunately, the second we were outside, mom took me back inside and put a sweater on me because it was windy and a bit chillier than yesterday. I felt kind of silly wearing that sweater over my harness. Mom didn't make it, she just cut the sleeve off of an old human sweater and cut some holes in it for my front legs to go through, and a dip under the back. My head goes through the "wrist" cuff. She cut a hole in the top for the leash to go through, and we were off!
We went into the yard, but all the birds at the feeders flew off the second they saw me. Cowards! We didn't see any squirrels. Then mom walked me to a park. I sniffed around, and chased the leaves blowing around in the wind. It was fun! I wish I could go off the leash, but mom is afraid I will get hurt. At the park, there was a lot of grass, but there was a sign that mom read to me that said "KEEP OFF THE GRASS. NEWLY SEEDED." We would have snuck onto it anyway, but then mom was afraid of pesticides. Isn't my mom a worrywart?
Now we are home and I am grooming myself. I've got to keep up my good looks, don't I? ;) heehee

Last night was the Great Chicken Night. It happens periodically, and it's AWESOME. I've written about it before in my diary, but in case you didn't read it, the Great Chicken Night is the night that my mom bakes up a bunch of chicken to cut into little bites for me, that she stores in ziplock bags in the refrigerator and freezer. After it's done, mom usually takes it out of the toaster oven and puts it to cool in the microwave (off) before cutting it into bites. Why does she put it in the microwave? Because I can open the toaster oven. (Mom doesn't use the regular oven that often.) Last night mom left the chicken in the oven to cool because she was busy with something on the computer, and I seemed very relaxed up on my spot on the top of a shelving unit . About 15 minutes later, she hears THUNK! the sound of the toaster oven door being opened. She ran in the kitchen and caught me pawing at the chicken. Darn it!
Well, at least I got to eat lots of chicken later when she was cutting it up.
Anyway, mom had taken a video of me opening the toaster oven door one time. Want to see me do it? It's a really short video. Mom had to stop recording to stop me from pawing the chicken. Which was for me anyway, so I don't know why I can't paw at it if I want. This is why my mom has to take anything that she bakes out of the toaster oven immediately. Because I am a little menace in the kitchen.

I have a weird new toy, and I love it. I've been playing with it for days! Mom has been extremely busy with her job, and also her etsy store, the contest, and other projects. I have been feeling very neglected. Mom was making something with leather and I was jumping around, trying to get her to play. She took a small scrap of the leather/suede and rolled it up into a tube and cut a slit into it, then tied a slim strip of the leather into the slit. And voilà! an abstract sort of mouse. She tossed it to me and I started playing! I love that weird little thing! I've been tossing it around, batting it, pouncing on it, hiding it, finding it... Mom has no idea why I am so into it. She has dug it out from under all the furniture for me, including the portal to Bubastis, also known as under the refrigerator. We shall see how long I like that toy. Maybe she jinxed it because she talked about it.

Incidentally, what she was making out of the leather was a pirate eyepatch! For a one-eyed cat! Someone on Etsy contacted her through her store to make it for their one-eyed cat. For a costume. The girl sent a picture of her cat, a cute black cat with one eye. Mom made the eye patch out of red leather and put a little skull and bones on it, and it came out really cute. She took a picture of it on me while I was sleeping because she didn't want to hurt my eye or freak me out. I didn't even notice. She listed the eyepatch as a custom item, and made sure to say in the description that she took the picture while I was sleeping because she did NOT recommend covering the eye of a cat with 2 eyes while they are awake. Just to make sure people don't think that they should try it. And so someone else saw the listing, and contacted her because they wanted a pirate eye patch TOO! for THEIR one-eyed cat. And the girl said that she had been looking for cat eye patches for weeks now! Isn't that funny? Apparently pirate eye patches for one-eyed cats is an untapped market that she found? Yo ho ho and a bottle of catnip rum! Hurray for one-eyed cats!
If you want to see the eye-patch, you can find it in the "sold orders" part of mom's etsy store www.Catatelier.etsy.com

Hi! I hope you guys are sending in your entries tonight or tomorrow! I am so excited!
My mom has decided that the special prize will be.... dadadadada (drum roll) 2 collars -the blue& white mini stripe and another print/color chosen to compliment your fur- and 2 interchangeable bow ties!
OR, if you want something girly instead:
the red bib collar with lace edge and bow, and a round collar in a print/color to compliment your fur and one girly bow tie. (My mom is creating some new girly bow ties that will be available in the store soon.)

See the collar and bow tie prints/colors and the bib collar in my mom's etsy store: CatAtelier

Also! If these special prizes are tempting you and you want to re-enter the quiz with all the answers, you can. Before the deadline tomorrow night of course.

I just found a BIG SPIDER in the corner and I was so excited I let out a little meow and chatter. Mom came over to see what I was looking at. I knew what would happen if she saw it: mom would start moving things around, confusing me, and then no more spider! So I quickly GOBBLED it up. YUM! Mom was totally grossed out but I started prancing around all happy. As far as I'm concerned, I AM A HERO. my mom hates spiders, so why shouldn't I eat them? Yumyumyum!!

I want to update you about the contest! I have several entries so far for the first drawing and 2 for the special prize! Mom is still thinking about what to make for the special prize, but she has decided that for the first drawing, she will add one more bow tie to make it a collar and 2 interchangeable bow ties! :)

IT'S QUIZ TIME! My mom had fun making up this quiz- it's a cartoon cat identification quiz. 55 cats to identify! my mom is a child of the 80s, so she was a big fan of many of these. Some are older, some newer. I hope you have fun trying to name them. If you are less of a tv freak than my mom was, (were more cultured, more classy than she was... hehe) you can always do a little searching! Or ask a child, a friend.

You have ONE week! Contest ends on Sunday night, February 27, at 11pm Eastern (8pm Pacific).

To enter, fill out as many names as you can. Send me a pawmail with your answers.
Write: QUIZ in the subject so I know what it is.
You do not have to get the answers correct to be entered to win the collar and bow tie. Anyone who sends me a pawmail will be entered. Mom will write down your names on little slips of paper and draw one out of a hat or jar or something. You will have to trust her that she is drawing AT RANDOM.

*******Anyone who gets ALL THE ANSWERS CORRECT (including the BONUS cats) will be entered in a SPECIAL DRAWING to win an item from CATatelier, her Etsy store. She has not decided what it will be. If you win the Random Drawing prize of light green gingham point collar and supergreen bow tie, you cannot win the Special Drawing prize too. In the event that both names drawn are the same (pretty unlikely, but you never know), I will draw again. The Random Drawing will be done first.

Directions:
Get out a pen and paper- number it from 1 to 55. Questions 39-55 are the Bonus cats. there are 9 pages of pictures.

Hi everyone! My mom just posted a picture up of the collar and bow tie that you can win from us! The light green gingham point collar and super green bow tie. It is a look from her etsy store: CatAtelier. It would be great for St. Patrick's Day!
She is making up a silly quiz- You don't have to get all the answers correct because she is just going to do a random drawing, but to enter you do have to take the quiz. Once I post the quiz up (in my diary), I will wait one week for anyone who wants to win to pawmail me with their quiz answers. I will write down every cat's name and draw the name out of a hat. Please only one entry per FAMILY. I will post the quiz up this week, and give the exact deadline. I hope everyone will try! It will be really fun and more exciting if there are a lot of cats in the contest!

Also, because this is sort of a boyish look, if you are a girl cat, she will make the collar in the round style for you instead. If you want.